Like Ice and Fire
by Sarah August
Summary: After Season 2 Klaus made Elena a vampire after Stefan refused to go through with his plans. Damon died after not getting the cure. Ten years later, Elena returns back to Mystic Falls to discover everything has changed. Will she reunite with Stefan? Or will a certain Original win her heart instead?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Like Ice and Fire

 **Summary:** After Season 2 Klaus made Elena a vampire after Stefan refused to go through with his plans. Damon died after not getting the cure. Ten years later, Elena returns back to Mystic Falls to discover everything has changed. Will she reunite with Stefan? Or will a certain Original win her heart instead?

 **Author:** Sarah August

* * *

"No," Stefan shook his head. "I don't care what you do. I'm not drinking the blood."

Klaus scowled viciously at Stefan. "If you choose to defy me, you'll regret it, Stefan. I promise you won't like what I do."

"Don't trust him," murmured Katherine in the back ground. She watched Klaus drink blood from a beer mug.

"You shouldn't listen to her," warned Klaus softly. Klaus had put his own blood inside a bottle and then picked it up with one hand. "You should really pick up the blood bag and start drinking from it Stefan," He warned.

"No," Stefan spat. "I'm out. I'm not helping you."

"You should be really thinking about those closest to you. There's Damon...Elena..."

"I'm not afraid of you," replied Stefan daringly.

"That's really too bad," Klaus smirked. Suddenly using vampire speed he appeared in front of Katherine.

"You're going to find and kill Elena Gilbert. Then consider yourself free, for now." Katherine grinned rather viciously and then was gone from the apartment.

"No!" cried Stefan. He was realizing what he'd done as the only cure for a werewolf bite was smashed into shards of glass. There was nothing left

Damon was doomed to die, and so was Elena, because of his arrogance.


	2. Chapter 2

"Niklaus, why would you do this? The curse has been broken. You can change at will," Elijah said while frowning at his brother.

"Stefan Salvatore defies me. That is why, brother. I will not let a young vampire like him get away with challenging my authority," Klaus scowled.

"That young girl has suffered enough. Do not make her what we are. You will need her blood..."

"Need her blood for what, Elijah?" Klaus barked.

"To create your hybrid army..." Elijah reasoned calmly. "The witches told you that..."

"Yes, but she has already died once and returned from the dead. We do not know how yet, only that it involves a spell that used her biological father. I don't believe that I need her to be human to use her doppelganger blood. I was recently speaking to a band of witches called the travelers. They believe her blood is good to be used either way. It means I will have Katerina as well to use when I want."

"But you released her..."

"Only for now," replied Klaus. "I felt I owed her one for doing the messy business I sent her to do. And I'm letting one of her favorites die..."

Damon Salvatore didn't deserve the fate his brother had given him. Elijah thought.

"Niklaus...at least allow me to offer to help her get through the transition. It will be difficult for her."

"She will have my blood. I guess that gives a family connection. So be it. You may offer to help Miss Gilbert when she awakens. Elena should be dead soon. Stefan won't be able to do anything but watch her die."

"This is wrong," said Elijah softly.

"It's never stopped us before," Klaus replies with a smile to his handsome face.


	3. Chapter 3

Elena had gotten ready for bed for the night and switched off her bedroom light before she spotted the intruder that was inside her family home. She could see her in the darkness. She had left Damon alone earlier in the evening because Stefan was to return soon. And she needed some sleep.

Damon was sick and dying of a werewolf bite, just like what happened to Rose. If Stefan succeeded Elena knew she'd be seeing a healed Damon by morning. She couldn't wait to see him again. In the last few months she had grown closer to Damon. She cared for him very much.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked Katherine in the darkness of her bedroom.

"Why aren't you with Damon?" Katherine asked in return. "I guess it's for the best. I don't have to kill you in front of him." Katherine then lunged for Elena, catching her off guard. "I'm going to enjoy this. You can thank Klaus for the idea." Katherine then grinned viciously as she sank her vampire teeth home deeply into Elena's flesh. Elena screamed before Katherine forced her blood into her mouth. She died shortly after Katherine drank her blood. Katherine smiled again, a bloodied smile of red. "I'm glad Damon was sparred seeing you before he dies." She told the broken body of Elena.

"Now where to put you?" Katherine asked aloud. "I want Stefan to find you first. Downstairs we go. How about the front porch?" Katherine then dragged her body to the outside of the house. She put Elena down on the swing that was by the front door. "You look like your just asleep." Katherine sneered. "Goodbye Elena."

Katherine then decided to leave town. It was for the best. Stefan would likely blame her for everything. She did wish she could help Damon. But with no cure from Klaus, there was no way. He was likely dead by now anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

He couldn't get the cure from Klaus. But he would find another way to save his brother. He thought Elena likely would still be by his brothers side. She felt guilty for not forgiving him sooner for killing her brother Jeremy. Stefan didn't know if he could do that himself if the situation was reversed. But there was something going on between them. They had a bond that Stefan himself couldn't understand and it was something he didn't want to think about.

His girlfriend caring for someone else...his own brother. It hurt to see it, to know it was there, but he was learning to deal with it. Elena swore it was just friendship and he had to force himself to believe it. Anything else met the possibility of losing her to Damon. That was something he wasn't ready to face.

Stefan thought he'd go home to see his brother first. He sensed that Elena wasn't here and likely had been gone for awhile. Maybe she thought it best to see Damon in the morning.

Stefan entered his brothers bedroom and if he had been listening sooner he'd have realized that Damon's heart had stopped beating. There was his brother sitting up on pillows on his bed. He was staring out the window from his bed. Damon's skin was the usual gray color. The color of death for a vampire. No.

Stefan dropped to his knees in his guilt for not getting the cure from Klaus. If he had only listened to him. His brother would likely still be here.

Stefan let out a cry and lowered his head down. His body shook with his grief.

* * *

Elijah had thought to go to the Gilbert house and see if by chance he had found her early. The place had no lights on and the outside was covered in dark shadows. He did not sense Katerina anywhere near by. His heart then filled with dread when he noticed the figure of someone sitting on the porch swing. Elijah went up the small set of stairs to the porch. He turned to move towards the person.

His breath hitched when he realized who it was. Of course it was her. Of course he was too late. He reached out to her mouth, feeling for breath. He at first assumed Katerina did not follow her instructions and had just took the chance to kill Elena on his brothers order. But soon light breath resumed from the other wise still body. Elena was alive again. Elijah then checked her closed eyes to check to be certain of something else.

The closed brown eyes were blood red. Further evidence of Elena Gilbert becoming something she did not want to be. Elena was going to be a vampire by the time she woke up.

Elijah then did the only thing he felt was best to. He lifted up the transitioning vampire into his arms and carried her to his near by car. He suspected Elena would not want to risk being found by her younger brother. Especially after the recent loss of their aunt Jenna. He knew that Alaric Saltzman likely would take over the guardianship of the young Gilbert's. He knew he had already been to the house a few times to check on Jeremy and Elena.

Elijah moved her body to the back seat of his car and then proceeded to get inside himself at the front seat. He noticed her chest moving as he drove away from the Gilbert home. Elena would be awake soon.


	5. Chapter 5

The bedroom she was inside of was dark. She could see everything in shadows as daylight struggled to fill the good sized room. Elena took another good breath and resumed normal breathing. Where was she? She thought about Damon and wished she had decided to see him after all. Maybe she wouldn't be here. Where ever this was now.

Elena forced herself to sit up and move her legs to the side of the bed. Everything was shadowed sunlight, but then everything got loud. She could hear people talking that were down the street from this place. She focused again, trying to hear anything from within this house. There were familiar voices, namely she heard Elijah, the Original vampire that liked to make a deal and then leave one hanging. She stopped herself, trying to understand what all these sensations meant. No. Oh no. She thought. It couldn't be true. After everything they had all gone through and were going through presently. Was she a vampire... Elena let out a sob.

She then tried standing up. A wave of dizziness hit her and she fell back towards the bed into a seated position. Elena battled the urge to cry again. She then gasped suddenly when she realized she was no longer by herself. Across from her line of vision was Elijah. He was standing still, staring at her, by the dresser. "My apologies Elena...I had hoped to be here when you woke up. You are at our home that I keep here for our family. It's a meek little place, but I've always enjoyed it."

"This wasn't your first time in Mystic Falls?" She asked softly. "I thought it was..."

"No," He agreed. "My family was born in this area. I have always kept a residence here in case I've had _reason or want_ to return."

"Like for Katherine," replied Elena. "Katherine..." She then said again. "Oh my god...it was her... _Katherine_...she killed me and made me this way." Elena remembered.

"Yes, it was Katherine," Elijah agreed. "I tried to find Katerina, but it was too late when I arrived. She had already killed you and you were changing into a vampire. My apologizes Elena..."

"I died at home," Elena whispered. "Jeremy...was he..."

"No, he wasn't there. I thought to take you away from there until you at least had the chance to wake up and get your barrings, before you see your brother."

"Thank you," Elena replied, thankful. "And Stefan...do you know what happened to him? I know that he was looking for a cure for Damon, and was going to see Klaus."

"I don't know for certain, but Damon...it looks bleak for him, Elena. Stefan would not accept my brothers deal for the cure."

Elena's brown eyes filled with tears at the thought of Damon dying. Elijah bowed his head upon seeing her tears. Elena had strong feelings for the elder Salvatore and that was quite clear by the look on her face. "I should have went to see him before going home," Elena admitted aloud. "I had so much I wanted to say...I hope he knew that I had forgiven him."

"I'm sorry," was all that Elijah could say. After a long silence he produced a bag of blood from inside his jacket.

Elena winced noticeably. But she knew this was the next step. "I'm going to have to drink the blood, aren't I?" She asked the obvious question.

"Yes," Elijah agreed. "You know this step..."

Elena reached for the bag of blood and accepted it from Elijah. "I might as well..."

"If you'd rather wait and see Stefan. I would say that you have time to speak to him first..."

"No," Elena shook her head. "I need it, so I shouldn't wait...I can't let Jeremy be alone...he needs me to drink this, no matter how much I don't want to be a vampire..." Elena then opened up the bag and drank the blood, as much and as deeply as she could.

"You'll likely want more," murmured Elijah.

Elena paused between drinks and she had to silently agree to that. She longed for more blood.


	6. Chapter 6

It took a good hour of drinking blood before she was satisfied. The blood had tasted so good. It filled her up and she felt amazing. After her blood drinking she told Elijah that she wanted to go and see the Salvatore's. She had to know what became of Damon and Stefan. Elijah invited her to return to him should she need any help from him. Elena went alone to see Damon and Stefan.

She rang the door bell to the boarding house when no one answered her knock. No one came to the door to let her inside, even after several minutes. Elena tried opening the front door and it snapped open when she applied some strength. She'd apologize for breaking the lock later.

"Stefan?" She called out. No answer. Elena tried using her vampire hearing to hear someone and after a couple of tries she heard movement upstairs. Perhaps it was Damon or Stefan. She couldn't tell who it was with her hearing ability. At least not yet. Elena walked up the stairs and stopped outside of Damon's bedroom. She stepped inside the room when she spotted Stefan sitting at the large bedroom windows. He was looking outside.

"Stefan?" She whispered. Elena then gasped in surprise when she saw the large bed was vacant. Damon wasn't in the bed anymore. Where was he? "Stefan? What's wrong? Where's Damon?"

Her becoming a vampire was forgotten for the moment. Her eyes filled up with tears of worry and concern for Damon.

Stefan turned around facing her and blinked in surprise at seeing her there. "Elena?" He said. Elena wasn't certain Stefan could even see her clearly. He looked frozen in shock.

Elena reached for him and touched his chest. "Stefan, it's me. What's been going on? Where's Damon?"

"Damon..." Stefan whispered. He looked away from her again. "Damon died, Elena. I never got the cure for him..."

"What?" Elena blinked. "What do you mean you couldn't get the cure? And where is Damon now, Stefan?"

"I put him in the family crept. He died..." Stefan replied again in his shock.

Elena started to shake and forced herself to sit in the chair beside the large bed. The dizziness was returning. Tears fell down her face.

Stefan turned around to face her after several minutes of just standing there. The look in his eyes changed. Elena noticed. "You're a vampire..." He said. "How did it...how did it happen?" Stefan said. Finally his attention was on her.

"Katherine...she was ordered by Klaus to kill me and turn me into...into this..." finished Elena. "Elijah filled in some blanks for me."

"He knew that I was after the cure," said Stefan. "You can't trust him, Elena."

"I'll be the judge of who I can trust, Stefan," replied Elena coolly. After another long silence Elena asked him if she could see Damon. She wanted to say goodbye. Stefan nodded wordlessly. He then escorted her outside and to the family mausoleum.

Elena stood in silence beside Stefan. Both had tears in their eyes. After a few minutes, Stefan enclosed her right hand within his own. The gesture filled Elena with new hope for them. Over the last few weeks, it seemed that circumstances did what they could to keep them apart. John, Jenna, she'd always miss them.

Just as nicely that their hands fitted together, Stefan was the first to pull away from her. He didn't want her touch. The thought stung deeply. "Stefan?" She said. She wanted everything to be alright between them.

"I can't do this, Elena," Stefan admitted aloud.

"Can't do what?" Elena asked him. Her heart was breaking all over again. Was this it for them?

"This...lying to ourselves..." Stefan shook his head and turned away from her. "You loved him..." Stefan then said. He was talking about Damon and Elena knew it. She stepped back from him. She didn't want to do this now. She didn't want to do this ever.

"Stefan, I love you..." She said after a long silence. "I cared about him...but I love you..."

"Even now, you won't even admit it?" Stefan was crushed and there was no way to make things better.

"He's gone, Stefan," Elena replied back. "I can't say it...I did...but it's finished...Damon died..."

"You loved him," Stefan said again.

Elena blinked and started to cry. "Yes, I loved him. But I love you too. And you're here, Damon isn't."

"I can't be his substitute, Elena. I won't be..." Stefan then started walking away from her.

Elena did the only thing that she could do. She let Stefan go.


	7. Chapter 7

Her heart was utterly broken. Things seem to be finished with Stefan. And she was a vampire despite everything that they all did to try and save her. And Damon was dead. Just when she was beginning to realize her feelings for him.

Elena now got ready to do the next thing that she could do. She was preparing herself to tell her brother Jeremy that she was now a vampire. And that they likely couldn't live together anymore. At least for a while. She felt like knocking on her own front door, but she sealed herself to go inside by opening up the door by the handle.

Jeremy was laying on the sofa inside the living room. He was watching the television. She never thought her brother one for watching the news. "Jeremy?" She asked. He looked up at her direction. "Oh, hi Elena. I wondered when you'd be getting home." He said.

"Hi Jer," She replied in return. "Can we...can we talk?"

"What's wrong?" Jeremy said. He sat there staring at her. He knew that something was seriously the matter by the look on his sisters face. Jeremy then sat up when Elena continued not saying anything. "Elena?"

"Jeremy...I don't know how to tell you this. But I'm a vampire." Elena sat there staring at her brother, waiting on a reaction from him.

"What?" Jeremy said. "But how? After all we did...I thought it was over..."

"I thought it was too. But it turns out that Klaus's blood is the cure to a werewolf bite. And Stefan refused Klaus's terms to a deal and now Damon is dead and I think Stefan broke up with me...and I'm a ...I'm this, Jeremy."

"Well get through it, Elena," Jeremy promised her. "We'll do it together."

"No," Elena said softly. "I think I should go Jeremy. I'll get Matt and Alaric to look out for you. But I need to go and try to get myself better. I know there's no cure, but I feel different now. I'm not the same person. I need to do this on my own."

"Elena..." Jeremy reminded her. "You don't need to do this on your own."

"I'm going to pack some things," said Elena, ignoring the reminder. It was easier this way.

Jeremy helplessly watched his sister head upstairs. She was gone, out the door, within minutes. Her mind was made up. She was leaving him. Leaving him alone in the world.


	8. Chapter 8

"You don't need to run away," said a familiar voice.

Elena had some things packed in a back pack and she held it over one shoulder. She turned around to see the owner of that voice. Tears were in her deep brown eyes. It had been hard enough to walk out her front door and leave Jeremy. She didn't need more guilt.

"Thanks Elijah," said Elena while shaking her head. "But my mind is made up. I can't be a new vampire, and live with Jeremy, like nothing has happened. And Stefan...he wants nothing to do with me. He knows that I fell in love with...his brother. And Damon isn't here anymore...I need to let everything go and start over."

"You'll regret leaving your family, Elena. What about your friends? You're expecting them to finish raising the boy for you..."

"I'm not even eighteen years old Elijah...what do I know about raising someone?"

"Let everyone help you, _Elena_..."

"No," said Elena. She shakes her head.

"There are people who care for you, Elena. There are people who are here that love you."

"I don't care, Elijah. I've lost so much...you don't understand..."

"Please tell everyone that I left letters for them inside my bedroom. I just...I'm not good with telling someone goodbye."

Elena stopped short and she felt overwhelmed by the decisions she was making. And there was Stefan...

Tears filled her eyes and she let out a heavy sigh. She hurt him so much. Her heart ached for the pain she caused him. And she knew this decision was going to hurt her friends, but to Elena, there was no other way. She had to think of Jeremy. She couldn't stay here and look out for him, when she herself was such a mess. What if she couldn't control herself and hurt him? Or worse...What if she hurt Bonnie or Matt?

No. She had to leave Mystic Falls. It was just better this way.

"Elena, I understand your decision, but I still believe this is a mistake. But it's a mistake you're free to make. I cannot tell you what to do."

Elena nodded her head in thanks. She then surprisingly hugged the Original. She would miss him as well.

"Where do you plan to go?" Elijah asked after she released him.

"I was thinking of Sing town. It's a very quiet place, about ten miles from here. A small village. I could live there and get a job. When the times right, I can come home. "

"Take care of yourself, Elena," Elijah whispered to the doppelganger.

"I have some blood that Caroline had. It should help until I get settled." Elena stepped away from the Original. She gave him one last look before leaving and vanishing into the night.

* * *

"She just left...it's not like her. What would make her leave like that?" Jeremy asked Alaric. They were inside the Gilbert family home. "Doesn't she know that we could help her? She doesn't need to do this by herself..."

"It's what she wants Jeremy."

"I don't want to lose my sister," said Jeremy softly. "I wish I actually been given a choice."

Jeremy then walked away from Alaric and up the staircase to upstairs inside the house. Jenna was gone, and now his sister was gone too. There was nothing left for him here in Mystic Falls, yet he wasn't given a choice like his sister had been given. She had chosen to leave town, and she had decided to leave him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ten Years Later**

 **Mystic Falls**

"Samantha, honey. Has Eric come down yet?"

"I think he was still putting his shoes on. Can you go up and look?"

Jeremy beamed happily at his wife. "I'd love too honey." Jeremy then headed up the staircase inside the Gilbert family home to see after his five-year-old son. Eric _nicknamed Ric_ was sitting on his bed while still trying to tie up his shoe laces.

"Mommy says I can do it. But I just can't," exclaimed the small boy. Tears welled up in his blue eyes and looked to his father for help. Jeremy gently touched his sons face. "We can do this." He told his son with reassurance. Jeremy then tied up the shoe laces and Eric beamed happily at him. Jeremy then heard his daughter starting to cry from her bedroom. "Go down and see mommy in the kitchen," Jeremy said to his son. "I've got it," Jeremy then called out so Sam could hear him.

Jeremy then entered his daughters bedroom. This room used to be his parents bedroom. "Daddy!" cried his two-year-old daughter _Annie_ who's full name was Miranda. She had just started using her own bed. She had cried when they took down her baby crib. "Let's get you dressed for the day, sweetheart," Jeremy then told his daughter.

"Okay, daddy," yawned the little girl. There was so much about her that reminded Jeremy of his own mother. Jeremy got their daughter dressed in short order. He then carried her downstairs for breakfast. Eric was seated at the table in the kitchen with Samantha eating his eggs.

 _Elena could hear the new voices coming from her family home. Two young children and a woman's voice she never heard before. When she heard Jeremy she could guess who the other voices belonged to. She was hearing the voices of Jeremy's family. She had no idea her brother had gotten married and had kids of his own._

 _The last time she was here Alaric had moved in with Jeremy. It was the last day she was here before leaving town. She had wanted to check up on Jeremy before leaving town. She heard him argue with Alaric about her leaving. She'd been too much a coward to confront him in person. Her brother had resented her for leaving the way she had._

 _Elena decided not to see Jeremy yet. First she'd visit with Stefan._


End file.
